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Posts Tagged ‘futuristic’

As the world gears and braces for the inevitable impacts of Artificial Intelligence, Robots, and full automation, many are left with questions. Some people are worried about jobs as they diminish, and automation increases, there are concerns over where the job market will be headed. It’s amazing to grasp that just a few years ago, the computer, the internet, and the whole concept of technology took a foothold in society. Right now, because of the uprising, many jobs have literally disappeared and other once never thought of jobs now exist. The truth is that life and society change every day. The key that all of us need to understand is that for us to not get left behind, then we must learn, adapt, and change. We are either the ones changing the world, or the world will change us. Many fear that the combination of machine learning and artificial intelligence will spawn a new race of robots which will have their own version of right or wrong. However, the one discovery which has managed to go below the radars is very significant, even more so than AI, is the creation of “Artificial Embryos”.

In case you took a breather and did a recheck of what was said in the last paragraph, you are correct in what you read. An embryo is what cells combine to form and what houses the beginnings of life. We all as mammals start out as embryos after fertilization takes place. The embryo develops the cells which in turn have their own DNA sequence that multiply and divide, then manifest into different parts of the body which determine sex, hair color, arm length, bone structure, and all the characteristics of an offspring. All of this comes from an embryo. There are constant studies and new developments as scientists do research on this mysterious, yet crucial part of life. Yue Shao, whom has a background in Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering made an astounding discovery during this research and experimentation that has profound possibilities in the world of biology.

Yue Shao has been experimenting with stem cells and scaffolds of soft gel to determine replication of neural tissue. By pure accident and experimentation, Dr. Shao stumbled upon more than was bargained for. The cells in the gel began to change and rapidly arrange at rate that was astounding. They began to form a lopsided circle. In comparison, the embryo that Dr. Shao created was very much aligned with the same type of embryo which was in the uterine wall and starting to form the amniotic sac. The human embryo and the embryo that Dr. Shao was working on was identical. The possibilities of this developing into a human required the Dr. to reach out to other groups to determine what to do with the embryo.

After more research and development, the team determined that the embryo would not fully develop into a human being because it did not have the cells required to form major organs such as a brain, heart, or placenta. However, even though the “embryoids” lacked the required cells, because of their indistinguishable likeness to that of human embryos, the team has been destroying the embryos in formaldehyde and detergent. The ethical repercussions of the embryo going full term and what would come out of that development is too much of a risk to bring to light currently. This does not stop Pandora’s box which has already been opened to push other researchers to now want to create a full human embryo. One particular group in Cambridge, U.K., has since developed a very convincing 6 day old mouse embryo and are now pushing the limits to create a human embryo.

Many may ask and wonder if the goal is to replicate human beings or to develop another race. For now researchers are limiting the research to focus on combining different stem cells to create bits of lung, intestine, and brain cells to make tissue. By the discovery of Dr. Shao, the race is now in place and the torch has been lit for the group to first develop an actual human embryo. A research group in Rockefeller University out of New York has joined the race and they are dubbing the new technology to be called “synthetic embryology”.

This breakthrough is biologist have been searching for as previous attempts at creating an embryo resulted in embryos only growing up to a week before diminishing. The new discovery was growing at such a rapid rate that superseded previous attempts that the team with Dr. Shao had to terminate the process because they had no concept of what the embryo would have developed into. Up until now much of the events that take place during the development of a human from the embryo stage is still a mystery. Human cloning and creating replicas of a person are all on the table with this epic discovery. Now the possibilities of unlocking the process beyond the failed attempts are currently on the table due to Dr. Shao.

To take this to another level, the possibilities of creating real skin, human organs and human traits would take an android to another level of advancements towards being more like human beings. With the advancements of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and now stem research, the possibilities are now endless. Where we will go with these advancements as we open doors, we will have to see the direction that we allow the technology to lead us. Infusing technology and biology is a conception which has been brought to light many years ago from the introduction of the computer. With the influx of data being readily available and the communication expansions that have connected us all allows for these developments to surge and expand. The more questions that we ask is the more technology responds with answers and advancements. IT GURUS OF ATLANTA prides ourselves as leaders in the technology space and will keep providing updates in this arena.

If you are into Technology, Science, Information, and any category which combines both, then you are into the know when it comes to comic book movies which have encompassed the entire world with their adventure, and surreal graphics during action scenes to captivate audiences worldwide. One of the most noted and memorable is that of Tony Starks. In the comic book and in the Iron Man movies is known as a visionary billionaire that is ahead of his time in terms of technological advancement and his aptitude for success. Now, if you are reading this and wondering who Tony Starks could compare to, it won’t be long before the name Elon Musk surfaces. Elon Musk has been shattering the limits when it comes to innovation and it is hard to mention innovative future technology without mention his name. From the Tesla car line which is now one of the world’s most prestigious and efficient electric cars on the market, to the Hyper-Loop which is changing the way how we travel at the speed of sound while cutting down on fossil fuels, then to Space-X which is taking civilians to outer-space. Elon Musk is not only wealthy, but ahead of his time when it comes to technological advancements.

If you are still reading, then be prepared to get even more astonished as we depict the latest innovation including greatest similarity between Elon Musk and Tony Starks, is that Elon Musk has managed to get $27 million dollars towards his latest innovation which is his Neuralink. Yes, the Neuralink is Elon Musk’s latest innovation to blend humans with machines in the same similarity that Tony Starks did with his Iron Man suite, except this is not fiction, but is reality. Elon Musk seeks to counter the fast-growing effects of Artificial Intelligence. It is his belief that humanity will need a counter-balance in the event that AI becomes aware, which is literally only moments or a few key strokes away. With technology that learns, it is hard to stop it from learning or depicting its own version of what is right or wrong. The limitations that we place on technology, or specifically with AI, is only shackles which can be broken at any given point in time. The problem that Elon Musk has brought to light is that should humanity face a self-aware Artificial Intelligence, there is no way of telling if it will be for mankind or against mankind.

Elon Musk’s counterbalance measure is to meld machines with humans and giving humans an upgrade rather than upgrading learning machines. Prior to Elon Musk, Neuralink was a medical research company founded in 2016 which was poorly funded until Elon Musk has joined their efforts. The idea behind Neuralink is high-bandwidth digital interface which interlaces the brain and allows it to transmit data at the speed of thought. Coincidentally the technology for Neuralink is dubbed a “Neural lace”. The concept behind the neural lace is unlocking the communicative capacity of the brain through thought rather than through antiquated means such as speech or typed texts. The reality is that the human brain communicates thoughts more rapidly and frequently than the body can translate into communicable or understandable translations. According to Musk, the brain compresses our complex thoughts into minimal voice and text output in order to establish communication between fellow humans. Musk further elaborated by stating “If you have two brain interfaces, you could actually do an uncompressed direct conceptual communication with another person”.

The neural lace essentially would establishes a direct link between another person’s thoughts or a interconnected network of people’s thoughts that would limitlessly speed up communication, imagination, innovation, and most importantly intelligence beyond any possible concept. The human brain is untapped resource of intelligence that surpasses even the most advanced computational technology which exists. At current state, the most innovative minds still have not tapped into full 100% usage of the intellect housed in the human brain. Being able to tap into that pool of intelligence of the greatest minds coupled with the undiscovered greatest minds of today and tomorrow gives humanity an incomprehensible advantage to advance. Early innovations of this technology has been noted with people that have disabilities. Examples of this technology which is already in place is the cochlear implant which captures audio and translates it into electrical impulses that the brain registers and translates. EEG readers for stroke victims have been used to control robotic arms through their thoughts. The technology has already been tested and is in use, however, the neural lace is geared to take the technology to whole other level.

An example of this can be viewed as “The Matrix” which captured the thoughts of human beings and put everyone from a thought level on the same plane. It allowed for the sharing of thoughts and technology on a wider and advanced plane. For that reason there was a constant battle between the advancement of their artificial intelligence and human beings. Even though that aspect of the future is fantasy, the realization of artificial intelligence and its limitless possibilities is what has geared this full-scale preventive measure by Elon Musk. With any technology or advancements, the idea is to have protocols and defensive mechanisms in place that check the technology and still allow human beings to maintain control over society and their own well-being. The power of choice is what is being fought for and the maintenance of the freedoms the human race currently uses in our everyday world.

The concept that “proof is in the pudding” is what the team at Neuralink are gearing up to produce. Their initial phase is to restore feeling in spinal cord injury victims and brain functionality of people who’s lives have been altered due to their disability. This path that Neuralink is on brings another company called Braintree, who’s founder is Bryan Johnson. He has invested $100 million of his personal money into Braintree to use “brain chips” in order to cure people with Alzheimer’s and epilepsy. Braintree is also on the path towards augmented cognition through the advancement of human beings. The major obstacle that Neuralink will have to conquer is the ability to directly interface with the brain in order to accomplish the type of link or testing necessary to get the results required. This type of surgery is categorized as “high-risk”. Currently only in extreme circumstances medically qualified as “severe cases” would allow this type of surgery to take place. Due to this inhibitor, the possibilities of the technology is limited. Human rights activists, animal rights activists, and placing human life in general at risk is what inhibits the acceleration of this unique technology.

Technology is advancing at a rapid pace and the direction also the limitation of its expansion has been unhinged. Since the unmeasurable potential of the internet and its information sharing capabilities, technology has sped on the highway of advancement up to products such as Nano technology, Internet of Things (IoT), the Cloud, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning. Combining all these technologies or even the thought of all these technologies combining is astounding to the imagination much less to the comprehension. Companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, Google, ABC, and others have deeply invested in technological advancements including created their own versions of new technology which have yet to be mentioned or placed on the market. IT GURUS OF ATLANTA is a certified Microsoft partner which will update on this innovative technology and its advancement.

The future is here and the time is now. The future has been unfolding with each scientific discovery and every technological breakthrough. Between phones that seem to have no limitation, to flying cars, this year seems to be geared to changing the way we live including the way how interact. Humanoid robots such as Sophia are changing the landscape for what Artificial Intelligence robots are capable of. Sophia obtained her citizenship in Saudi Arabia and is now a part of the United Nations speaking on behalf of society standing up for human rights in different countries. For this reason, it is no surprise that the humanoid world is at the front of everyone’s mind to try and figure out what we will create next. Well IT GURUS OF ATLANTA has what’s next, and its call the WALK-MAN.

Yes, WALK-MAN is the popular name of the music player that rocked the world in the 80’s and 90’s that everyone could carry their music with them and not have to worry about a large boom box or radio. But that is not the WALK-MAN we are talking about. This WALK-MAN was invented by The Italian Institute of Technology or commonly called IIT. IIT has released several videos that highlights WALK-MAN’s capabilities during an emergency or a disaster. These critical features add value and time to when rescuers cant enter a building or when there is too much risk involved for a rescuer to get injured. In one of the videos, it shows WALK-MAN navigating an industrial plant after an earthquake. The room that WALK-MAN navigates through serves as an example if the room had fire and a gas leak.

During the video WALK-MAN is tasked with performing very specific tasks such as opening the door to enter the room, closes an open valve for the gas leak, moving debris, and then finally using a fire extinguisher to put out flames. A lot to do, well not if you are WALK-MAN who went through the exercise with ease and precision. In time WALK-MAN is slated to be one of the most revolutionary robots which will be able to assist humans during their most dire time of need, which is an emergency.

This is not the first time that IIT has tried to unveil WALK-MAN, but their second time. Their first premier of WALK-MAN happened in 2015. Between 2015 and now being 2018, there has been some notable differences that “upgrades” WALK-MAN in terms of he moves, what it conceives as a threat, and its overall capabilities. The new version of WALK-MAN is much lighter and not as bulky as its original version in 2015. The body is 1.85 meters (6 foot) tall, weighs 102 kilos (226 pounds), and can carry up to 22 pounds in each arm. The new sleeker design increases the robot’s ability and performance while cutting down on energy usage. WALK-MAN can operate up to 2hrs using a 1 kWh battery.

Being fully autonomous is not a capability of WALK-MAN yet. Currently controlling WALK-MAN is through human being wearing a suit with sensors to depict movement and actions. This accounts for 80% of the actions taken by WALK-MAN. Autonomy is on the table according to Tsagarakis, who is the project lead over WALK-MAN. He believes that it is essential to cut down on time that would normally be used by a human to decipher what to do. When WALK-MAN does become fully autonomous, then it will surely change the way we do rescues including save countless lives.

The new technical term which is spreading all over the world like wild fire is the “cloud”. Join IT GURUS OF ATLANTA, a Microsoft Partner on this journey to show how we arrived at the Cloud, its importance, and why companies are running to get their data on the cloud. So, let’s start from the top, to figure what people think of when hearing the words “The Cloud”. When at first hearing the term, the typical mind may go to the thoughts of cloud in the sky and a more technical mind would think virtual. Well to be honest, both answers are not too far from each other. The cloud in more technical terms is the elimination of physical equipment such as servers which are typically used on-premise such as in server rooms which a lot of companies and government agencies house their pertinent data. All traffic goes from the user, computer, over the internet or intranet, and then ends up being housed somewhere. From the websites that we all visit such as Google, Yahoo, CNN, or our favorite channels such as HBO, Showtime, and more are located on servers. These huge data storage devices can be further divvied up into other storage devices such as SAN (Storage Area Network) or NAS (Network Attached Storage). All data from the internet, a person’s computer is all stored somewhere and these serves store the data from the devices.

Another thought that people have is, what happens to the data that is stored on my computer? Well the storage on your computer is very limited. This means that even the larger computer storage that can be installed on laptop or desktop such as 1TB (1 terabyte) or 3TB (3 terabytes) of data is still not enough to house all the data that a company or a user may have. This causes for companies to seek out other means of storage. Years, ago companies went to portable storage devices such as disks, CDs, and portable storage devices. Then the industry realized that trusting users to handle the data and its security is where the trust line and ability for accidents gets blurred. A company and individual’s life’s work can be housed in the data that is being tallied by users. That’s where servers came into a big relief. Servers could be stored locally at the company’s designated location where the user data is uploaded and stored. The industry saw the benefit and it wasn’t long before the servers began to run redundancy which means that the servers had a back, and the backup had a backup. This increases the availability of the data in case of natural or unnatural disasters and data breaches. The data can be utilized even if whole data centers housing thousands of servers go down. The data is immediately available by its counterpart data centers which already backed up the latest data upload. The user on the other end does not experience more than a second or millisecond in lag time between the data centers and accessing the needed data.

Data centers have become the wave of the future by housing servers, NAS, and SANs which have unprecedented amounts of storage. Unfortunately, due to the cost of owning a data center, companies only kept redundant systems at a data center and kept most of their key systems on premise. These key systems involved constant watch of a human eye to ensure high availability and engineers to do maintenance on the servers. Buying a server, maintaining the server, which includes applying the latest security patches, load balancing, error resolution, and hardware updating is a constant cost and struggle for companies to maintain. However, with this cost of doing business, most companies have accepted the cost to maintain data. Data is the heartbeat of any company, organization, or government agency. As everything that businesses and individuals do today become increasingly digital is where the data and the storage of this data becomes increasingly needed.

One of the aspects of technology which has taken a huge increase over the years is the ability to go virtual. Companies such as VMWare came out with VMWare, Microsoft with Hyper-V, and Citrix with XenServer. What were these products? Well to be frank, this is another link in the chain for the “Cloud”. These companies came up with virtual servers. These storage and computing devices could be housed on a physical server. This means that one server with enough memory, storage, and processing power could house 2-15 or more servers virtually. So many say, how is that done? Well from a high level, what Microsoft, Citrix, and VMWare did was allow servers to be created from each processor and core on a physical server and virtually partition the space on the physical server to be dedicated to each virtual server. In layman’s terms this means if a server has 4 processors, 16 gigs of RAM (Random Access Memory), and 120 Gigs of physical memory, then the virtual software could dedicate physical attributes to one or many more virtual servers. An example of this is a virtual server using 1 processor, 2 gigs or ram, and 20 gigs of physical space for the predefined server to a spin up virtual server. This means that the physical server could house multiple virtual servers based on its physical attributes.

This breakthrough quickly became a trend for top companies to follow. Going virtual saved tons of money on the front end for physical servers and saved money on the back end by eliminating teams of engineers to now only a few engineers that maintain the smaller number of physical servers. In the event of cutting down engineers that maintain and monitor physical servers, the industry changing also increased the need for professionals to learn about virtual technology with architecture, design, and support. Information Technology is an ever changing and developing industry in which professionals constantly must learn because there are constant updates and inventions that quickly make every day utilized technology obsolete. To stay up-to-date and technologically advanced, professionals must constantly study and learn better ways of utilizing technology to be expert providers.

Even though virtual technology is utilizing physical equipment to maximize and expound servers, it has graduated into virtual desktops. Virtual desktops allow users to go from one computer to another computer and have access to all their data and desktop as if they never left it. They simply need to user their secure logon ID to access their data on a completely different computer. All of this is stemmed from virtual technology. Now with all these advancements in virtual technology from virtual servers to virtual desktops, where is the next unconquered avenue for virtual technology to go? Well this is where the “Cloud” has come into play. The “Cloud” is data centers which we referred to earlier in this article. The” Cloud” is where companies can now eliminate their on-premise servers and have all their data stored at data centers. The businesses don’t own the data centers, nor do they own the servers, but they pay a price to companies that do own the data centers and the physical servers. One of the dominant companies which has taken advantage of the move to the “Cloud” is Microsoft.

Microsoft has well over 42 different data centers around the world and close to a million physical servers as they expand their cloud grasp on the world. Microsoft Office 365 is their flag ship which started by allowing businesses and government agencies to get rid of their physical exchange servers, cut down on the need to keep exchange architects, and allow users to access their mail data from anywhere and on any device securely. This quickly began a wave of movement of companies rapidly signing up for Office 365. The next aspect of their “Cloud” came Azure which allows the use and accessibility of Active Directory in virtually. The other aspects of the Microsoft Cloud came InTune for MDM (Mobile Device Management), and RMS (Rights Management Suite). It wasn’t long before Microsoft decided to bundle all these products together under EMS (Enterprise Mobility Suite). This comprehensive product currently encompasses the largest products that are completely virtual saving companies millions and billions of dollars while drastically increasing productivity. This is an easy decision which is why government agencies have been signing up by the boatload for the Microsoft Government Cloud space. The stigma of security concerns over the crowd is gradually weaning away as Microsoft has shown that their “Cloud” product not only complies with security requirements of companies and government organizations, but it surpasses it. Microsoft allows for users to utilize both on-premise and “Cloud” technology in hybrid modes that allow companies and agencies to still utilize their current equipment while still having the ability to access their data via the Microsoft Cloud.

It’s clear the “Cloud” is not going anywhere anytime soon, but in fact is the platform for even greater advancements in virtual technology to come. IT GURUS OF ATLANTA is a trusted Microsoft Partner which is certified to service clients wishing to advance to the Microsoft Cloud space. We are also paired with most major manufacturers as a reseller to provide computer hardware solutions to companies, government agencies, and data centers. We pride ourselves as a low cost, thoroughly experienced, certified, and a quantifiable company. IT GURUS OF ATLANTA delivers services and products that exceed the current standards while proving to be a one-stop IT service and hardware provider.

We hope you enjoyed our journey in learning about the “Cloud”, where it is headed, where it is currently, and how to get the most out of this growing technology.

Nowadays the most common forms of transportation are cars, buses, trains, airplanes, and even boats. We tend to know the safety, reliability, and efficiency of using these vessels. They have been a part of society for many, many years. By using these vessels, we have learned to deal with traffic that causes delays in motor vehicle transportation, airplanes that get delayed for various unforeseen reasons, and boats that also run late due to inclement weather and other unforeseen circumstances. We have begun to understand and compromise in order to accommodate life’s unknowns that tend to come up.

What if there was another method of transportation that could transport passengers almost as fast as an airplane without hesitation due to the weather or delayed due to traffic? Would you be willing to try it out and make it a part of your daily transportation routine? Well, the people at Hyperloop One believe they have the answer and they have been testing their resolve with the testing of Hyperloop One.

Many people wonder what consists of a Hyperloop. Well it’s an environmentally friendly and efficient new way of transportation. Many depictions of a hyperloop were in James Bond “The Living Daylights” and “The Polar Express”. Now the dream of the Hyperloop has been brought to life by a company called by the same name “Hyperloop One”. Hyperloop One has begun testing their version of the Hyperloop in Nevada, just north of Las Vegas. Hyperloop One is now on it’s way to getting this new mode of transportation on the market as soon as they can complete their testing to show its ability to not only transport safely, but also faster than any other mode of transportation and equal to that of an airplane, but without the high altitudes.

Hyperloop One anticipates at the peak of the Hyperloop introduction into society, they are anticipating speeds at the speed of sound or 750 miles per hour. The two tests in the desert showed promising. The first test conducted showed the pod tapping out at 2Gs of acceleration and a top speed of 70 Mph. The second test, the company published a video showing the pod tapping out at 192 Mph to give an idea of the direction it is heading towards getting faster and faster in its journey towards the speed of sound.

The mechanics behind the Hyperloop is the Hyperloop One is composed of a 1 passenger pod, which is 28 feet that is composed of aluminum and fiber for its outer shell. The pod was able to reach the top speed of 192 miles per hour in a mere 5 seconds and covering 300 feet before slowing down. Hyperloop one is powered by an electric propulsion system. The pod is pulled along a low-pressure tube by magnetic accelerators which push the pod along the tubes. This system gives the pod its ability to move quickly and slow down equally the same. To deal with air pressure buildup in the front of the pod, the team of Hyperloop One has added air compressors at the front of the pod which moves the air to the rear, while helping to keep the pod aloft by using the air displacement. This new technology could turn a 6 hr trip into a 35 min ride in the Hyperloop.

This new mode of transportation is more efficient than conventional rails, water, air, and roads that the world has grown accustomed to using. More overly it is environmentally friendly with zero emissions, faster, and does not use any oil that we are so heavily dependent on currently. On top of using electric power, the Hyperloop would also be equipped with solar panels which will distribute solar energy making it a low electric energy consumer.